Results: DeSantis' Florida and communism are bedfellows!

"The same manipulative tactics that Communist Cuba uses are now pillars of Gov. Ron DeSantis' public education system. Math textbooks and literary books are being banned because some comité a la Cuba — aka "Moms for Liberty," made up of citizens jazzed and empowered by Republicans into a state of hysteria — deemed them inappropriate and sounded the alarm. Educators are being censored and handed guidelines, embedded into law, about what they're allowed to say and not say to students on race or gender identity. Nothing that makes whites uncomfortable. Nothing about being gay or trans in kindergarten to third grade when kids are full of questions about fellow classmates or themselves." Does this surprise you?

"DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have mandated, starting with the 2023 school year, that Florida's middle-school students get an earful about the horrors of communism every Nov. 7, declared "Victims of Communism Day." Public school teachers in Florida will be required to dedicate at least 45 minutes of instruction that day to Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro. As well as to the "poverty, starvation, migration, systemic lethal violence and suppression of speech" that people endured under their regimes. Yet, these same students can't be taught about the "poverty, starvation, migration, systemic lethal violence and suppression of speech" to which Blacks and other minorities have been, and still are, subjected to in this country. That would fall under the banned "critical race theory" that teachers, by law, can no longer teach." Do you find this ironic?

"It's okay for fascists to ban, censor and indoctrinate. That these practices conspire against democratic principles is of no importance. That they're hypocritical, who cares? The 'cancel culture' Republicans were so dead-set against during the national reckoning with racial history after George Floyd's murder has now become their prized turf, with Florida a leading stage for culture wars of the right." DeSantis' critics say he is pandering to a bigger audience, at the expense of Floridians and their children, because he wants to be the next US president. Do you agree?

"If crushing evil was the goal, they would also dedicate lessons to Nazism and the rise of right-wing paramilitary and hate groups in the nation, and specifically, Florida. But that's too close to DeSantis' voter base for comfort, isn't it? The right isn't happy with just sending their children to segregated, religious private schools and publicly-funded charters. They want to shape the rainbow of children enrolled in public schools in their 1950s image. But maybe there's hope. One fine day, a smart, fearless kid will raise her hand in the middle of the communism lesson and ask, "Isn't that what Republicans do in Florida?" Do you agree?